This is the first time we have been able to get any internet access since we got to Malawi so sorry for not being able to keep you all up to date! Our journey out here went mostly to plan apart from a slight de-tour to Zambia before arriving in Malawi. We left Edinburgh at 10.30 on Wednesday morning and arrived in Lilongwe airport at about 12.30 on Thursday! I have never been so grateful to get off a plane.
Our guides for the three weeks were waiting for us as we got off the plane, Peter and Martin are our drivers that get us from A to B and make sure we know the procedure and customs of each village we visit. Leaving the airport was a total shock to the system, we had to drive through some of the poorest areas of Malawi and seeing such poverty as soon as you arrive was a total shock! Most of the houses were smaller than an average shed in Britain and slept about 10 people. Their only affordable building materials are wood and handmade bricks. There were no buildings along the road side on our 3 hour journey to Mangochi, only shelters. The number of people walking along the road side was incredible, most of them carrying extremely heaving loads on their heads. Every time we stopped the car there were people crowding around begging for money and water. I don’t think anything could have prepared us for this experience.
On our first proper day in Malawi, we went to visit an inphant home in Mangochi called Open Arms. They take in children from birth up to 2 years old who have been abandoned or orphaned through maternal death. Usually relatives of the children take them to the home where they are asked if adoption would be an option, 8 out of 10 relatives usually say no. This means that when the children are 2 years old they are taken back by their family, usually this works but sometimes Open Arms have to take the children back into care.
Thomasena is the Manager of the Mangochi Open Arms, she kindly organised all our activities for us while we were staying in Mangochi. She has done an amazing job of running the home and organising our few days here! Farouck was a young boy in his last year of high school who also volounteered at Open Arms. He is an orphan and was taken in by Thomasena when she moved to Mangochi. He really helped us while we were there with learning Chichewa, the local language and also in helping us understand what life was like growing up in Malawi. I have never met such an inspirational teenager! He is studying for exams just now and hoping to start studying medicine next year at University. Hopefully Farouck will be coming over to Scotland next summer with a group of teenagers from Malawi to the SSC camp in summer.
The welcome we got here was amazing; the nurses all came out singing and dancing. When we got into the home, all the children were crowding around us waiting for some attention. Mangochi is not a popular place for volunteers to work; it is usually the bigger cities that get volunteers. To have visitors there was a real privilege for them as well as us.
We met the Matron of Open Arms, who had made our dinner the night before and she told us that she had just been diagnosed with Malaria at level 4 which is the worst kind of Malaria you can get. Her chances of survival are not very likely. That was the first time it really hit home how awful Malaria is here. At lunch time the majority of children got small yellow drinks. When I asked the nurse what they were she said it was treatment for Malaria. Even in a secure, clean home like Open Arms, Malaria is still a big problem!
We met a little boy called Yusuf who was 4 and still at Open Arms. He first arrived at Open Arms when his mother died at birth. When he was 2 he went back to his family, when the nurses went to check on how he was getting on back in the village, they found out that the family he was staying with were abusing him, so he got taken back in. Open Arm’s work doesn’t end when the children go back to their families, they pay regular visits to make sure the children are settling into life in the village
Our guides for the three weeks were waiting for us as we got off the plane, Peter and Martin are our drivers that get us from A to B and make sure we know the procedure and customs of each village we visit. Leaving the airport was a total shock to the system, we had to drive through some of the poorest areas of Malawi and seeing such poverty as soon as you arrive was a total shock! Most of the houses were smaller than an average shed in Britain and slept about 10 people. Their only affordable building materials are wood and handmade bricks. There were no buildings along the road side on our 3 hour journey to Mangochi, only shelters. The number of people walking along the road side was incredible, most of them carrying extremely heaving loads on their heads. Every time we stopped the car there were people crowding around begging for money and water. I don’t think anything could have prepared us for this experience.
On our first proper day in Malawi, we went to visit an inphant home in Mangochi called Open Arms. They take in children from birth up to 2 years old who have been abandoned or orphaned through maternal death. Usually relatives of the children take them to the home where they are asked if adoption would be an option, 8 out of 10 relatives usually say no. This means that when the children are 2 years old they are taken back by their family, usually this works but sometimes Open Arms have to take the children back into care.
Thomasena is the Manager of the Mangochi Open Arms, she kindly organised all our activities for us while we were staying in Mangochi. She has done an amazing job of running the home and organising our few days here! Farouck was a young boy in his last year of high school who also volounteered at Open Arms. He is an orphan and was taken in by Thomasena when she moved to Mangochi. He really helped us while we were there with learning Chichewa, the local language and also in helping us understand what life was like growing up in Malawi. I have never met such an inspirational teenager! He is studying for exams just now and hoping to start studying medicine next year at University. Hopefully Farouck will be coming over to Scotland next summer with a group of teenagers from Malawi to the SSC camp in summer.
The welcome we got here was amazing; the nurses all came out singing and dancing. When we got into the home, all the children were crowding around us waiting for some attention. Mangochi is not a popular place for volunteers to work; it is usually the bigger cities that get volunteers. To have visitors there was a real privilege for them as well as us.
We met the Matron of Open Arms, who had made our dinner the night before and she told us that she had just been diagnosed with Malaria at level 4 which is the worst kind of Malaria you can get. Her chances of survival are not very likely. That was the first time it really hit home how awful Malaria is here. At lunch time the majority of children got small yellow drinks. When I asked the nurse what they were she said it was treatment for Malaria. Even in a secure, clean home like Open Arms, Malaria is still a big problem!
We met a little boy called Yusuf who was 4 and still at Open Arms. He first arrived at Open Arms when his mother died at birth. When he was 2 he went back to his family, when the nurses went to check on how he was getting on back in the village, they found out that the family he was staying with were abusing him, so he got taken back in. Open Arm’s work doesn’t end when the children go back to their families, they pay regular visits to make sure the children are settling into life in the village
We went to a village called Kafulimira where Open Arms have a feeding station for children, they provide breakfast each day for a number of children. To stay in the village and meet the locals we had to get permission from the village chief first. We went to her house and had to tell her why we were there. Gloria was her name but she wasn’t meant to be chief, her sister could not read or write very well so Chief Gloria was chosen instead.
In the village we played games with the kids, sang songs and then had a football match against some of the teenage boys of the village. Our team won 8-6, which is pretty amazing, the local boys were incredible. Our goal keeper, Steven (the organiser) was our best asset. Not once did I hear any of the locals complaining or moaning even though most of them didn’t have any shoes or clothes that fitted them. Leaving the village all the kids ran after our van. We left them with some sports equipment and clothes. I have never seen any community so grateful for a couple of footballs!
The following day a local artist came to see if we wanted any painting to take home. I bought 3 painting which came to 4000 kwacha which is about £14. Things here are so cheap a can of coke is only about 20p!
The following day a local artist came to see if we wanted any painting to take home. I bought 3 painting which came to 4000 kwacha which is about £14. Things here are so cheap a can of coke is only about 20p!
A local football team from Chiweimwei bet us 6-2 on Saturday, we took them to our house where they got lunch and new football strips and shoes! 4 of the boys in the team had never had a pair of trainers before!
On Sunday we went to the local church which has a service in English at 7am. The church choir sang very traditional African songs. It was really interesting to see how different the church set up is here. Women are on one side of the isle and men on the other. There are no song books but everyone apart from us seemed to know all the songs. There were not that many people at the service but when we passed the church later on, after the service in Chichewa, there were a few hundred people coming out of the church. Religion seems to be a very important part of the Malawian culture compared to the UK.
We went back to Kafulimira after church, as soon as the children saw our bus coming into the village they were all running out of the shelters and following the bus! We managed to teach the kids some songs like head, shoulders, knees and toes – they all seemed to love that! We also got to play some more games with them. This time a lot more people from the village came out to see us, since they had heard about us visiting a few days before! Over 100 people from the village came out to play games and learn songs! We also managed to learn some Chichewa from them. It was incredible to see so many people getting involved with everything, if only more villages in Scotland could have the community spirit of Mangochi!
We also got to meet a Church Youth Group, who we played volleyball against (and lost badly). They told us about the work they do in the community to promote HIV awareness, get more communities involved in sports, educate people in how to grow their own vegetables. They seem to do a lot of work with different villages in helping get healthier communities! The work they do at the church itself involves singing in the choir, doing readings each week and doing a sort of summer camp for children in their summer holidays.
Monday was our day off from working so we got to kayak out to an island on the lake called Dumbwe. We went swimming in the lake and got to go snorkelling which was incredible! It’s off to Blantyre and Chikwawa tomorrow to start work on the hospital and visit some more villages and schools!
On Sunday we went to the local church which has a service in English at 7am. The church choir sang very traditional African songs. It was really interesting to see how different the church set up is here. Women are on one side of the isle and men on the other. There are no song books but everyone apart from us seemed to know all the songs. There were not that many people at the service but when we passed the church later on, after the service in Chichewa, there were a few hundred people coming out of the church. Religion seems to be a very important part of the Malawian culture compared to the UK.
We went back to Kafulimira after church, as soon as the children saw our bus coming into the village they were all running out of the shelters and following the bus! We managed to teach the kids some songs like head, shoulders, knees and toes – they all seemed to love that! We also got to play some more games with them. This time a lot more people from the village came out to see us, since they had heard about us visiting a few days before! Over 100 people from the village came out to play games and learn songs! We also managed to learn some Chichewa from them. It was incredible to see so many people getting involved with everything, if only more villages in Scotland could have the community spirit of Mangochi!
We also got to meet a Church Youth Group, who we played volleyball against (and lost badly). They told us about the work they do in the community to promote HIV awareness, get more communities involved in sports, educate people in how to grow their own vegetables. They seem to do a lot of work with different villages in helping get healthier communities! The work they do at the church itself involves singing in the choir, doing readings each week and doing a sort of summer camp for children in their summer holidays.
Monday was our day off from working so we got to kayak out to an island on the lake called Dumbwe. We went swimming in the lake and got to go snorkelling which was incredible! It’s off to Blantyre and Chikwawa tomorrow to start work on the hospital and visit some more villages and schools!
